Boys escape from classroom terror

John ZarembaSaturday, December 15, 2012

Credit: Chitose Suzuki

REMEMBERinG: Families attend a vigil last evening in newtown, Conn., for the sandy Hook Elementary school shooting victims.

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NEWTOWN, Conn. — Staring death straight in the face in what should have been the haven of his first-grade classroom, little Brady Lavelle grabbed a classmate and bolted from school in a daring escape from one of the most unspeakable slaughters in the nation’s history.

They ran out their classroom’s back door, into a hallway as alleged gunman Adam Lanza opened fire on their teacher and fellow students at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Brady and his pal scampered from the building, then down Riverside Road, half a mile into town. And they ran into the arms of a Samaritan who scooped them up and drove them to the local fire station.

“It is miraculous and awesome,” Brady’s mom, Stacey Lavelle, told the Herald in a brief telephone interview last night.

She declined to speak in detail about her son or his desperate flight to safety, saying she didn’t want to seem overjoyed on a night when her friends and neighbors had lost so much; 28 dead in all, including 20 of Brady’s schoolmates, ages 5 to 10.

Friends of the Lavelle family learned of Brady’s escape from other relatives.

“The shooter came into his room, shot the teacher and opened fire on the class,” said Bobby Haskins, 14, who is a friend of Brady’s older brother. “He was able to make it out with a friend of his, out the back door.

“And they ran half a mile, all the way into town here, and were rescued by a man who brought them back to the firehouse,” Bobby Haskins said, recounting the story on Newtown’s picturesque main drag, with his father, Bob, by his side.

The Haskinses were on their way to a local prayer vigil — one of several last night in this town of 27,000 hard by the New York border, where tears flowed in rivers in the hours after the bloodbath.

Bobby said he spoke to Brady’s older brother, but the little boy wasn’t saying much about his miraculous escape.

“He said he didn’t really talk about it, which is expected — it’s a very traumatic experience. They said they’re just so thankful, as anyone would be in that situation.

“I was just overjoyed that he made it out because I’m a friend of his,” said Bobby, an eighth-grader at a local Catholic school. “He comes to all of our basketball games. It would have been so tragic if he lost his life in that terrible incident. We’re just so thankful he made it out.

“I’d say he was probably one of the only kids, him and his friend were one of the only kids who made it alive out of that classroom,” Bobby said, “which is very sad.”